There appears to be some very good news for owners or prospective owners of the Fujifilm X10 camera.  Ever since the camera was released, many users have lamented the existence of ugly white discs, often called “orbs,” that show up in some images taken by the X10.  I have only encountered them personally once or twice; they tend to show up when there are bright lights in a scene; the camera’s sensor somehow causes what should be normal-sized highlights to morph into extra-large white discs with unnaturally hard edges.  Here is one example, which also appears in Photographer’s Guide to the Fujifilm X10:

On March 12, Fujifilm announced that it was developing a modified version of the X10’s image sensor and that it would provide free replacements of the sensors in affected cameras. Today, dpreview.com, a very well-respected site for digital photography reviews and tests, posted an article saying that they had received a camera with the new sensor. They posted sample images which appear to show that the problem has been fixed. Of course, it is early to conclude that the problem is completely resolved, but the preliminary results at dpreview.com looked excellent, and it now seems as if the X10 can take its place as a highly valued camera without the unpleasant “orbs” cloud hanging over it.

Here is a link to the article at dpreview.com about the new sensor.